Careers

How to train to be a Public Health Specialist

The New Zealand College of Public Health Medicine (NZCPHM) administers and provides the training programme. For more information visit the College website.

Upon being accepted into the Training Programme, Basic Training Registrars are paid a study grant by Health Workforce New Zealand (HWNZ). During Advanced Training, Registrars work at a minimum of three training sites, including public health units, district health boards (e.g. funding and planning roles), universities, NGOs and the Ministry of Health. Six-to-twelve months of Advanced Training is undertaken at a public health unit, and most Auckland Registrars complete this attachment at the Auckland Regional Public Health Service (ARPHS). Other Registrars in the Auckland region have undertaken this placement at Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Northland DHBs.

Registrars choose, in discussion with their supervisor (the Training Programme Supervisor), the length and site of their other placements, and negotiate a training position directly with the work site and their potential trainer. The Training Programme has a detailed list of competencies, and Registrars are expected to choose training sites that enable them to develop skills in all of these areas by the completion of their training time. Public Health training is largely project based, so Registrars may be employed for a particular project which is not likely to be on-going. For this reason, a Registrar position may not be a continuous role in an organisation, and even when subsequent Registrars are employed at the same training site the nature of the job they are employed to do may be very different to previous Registrars.

There are around 10 Registrars in the Northern region (Waikato north). Once the Part I is completed Registrars can organise their own Part II positions with approval from the Training Programme Supervisor. Registrars have found Part II training positions in such workplaces as:

• Public Health Units (Northland, Auckland, Waikato)
• DHBs (Northland, Waitemata, Auckland, Counties Manukau, Waikato)
• NZ Heart Foundation
• PHOs
• NZ Guidelines Group
• Ministry of Health (screening unit, public health team)
• Family Planning
• University (School of Population Health)
• Immunisation Advisory Centre